Practice Management

When you think about it, water is the vital ingredient for all living things on this planet.  Therefore, it makes sense that it is something that is going to fought over and legislated.  Where there is conflict and where there is regulation, there are attorneys because they are necessary.

Water law is greatly related to real estate law, but it is more than that.  It is also affected by environmental law.  Unlike real estate, the unique features of water make it difficult to regulate as it can be used simultaneously by many users.  There are issues of water being diverted and used up.  Shortages occur.  There are pollution issues.  Almost anything done with or to water effects the ecosystem.

There are oceans, rivers, lakes and aquifers that cross states and national boarders, and this causes problems.  Water issues and use even involve treaty rights with native Americans.

Our systems of  for allocating water rights in is rather complicated.  Complicated things need legal experts and representation.

It is strange, but I recall when I was young having an usual interest in this after watching an episode of Bonanza on TV.  The corrupt landowner above the Ponderosa had damned and diverted the river leading through the ranch.  It was just fiction, but it also was not.  I thought how unfair that was, using water as a weapon.  And, I realized that fights over water have existed for time and eternity.  Who know the Cartwrights taught CLE.

Many eastern states use the old English law known as riparian rights, which generally provides that the landowner whose property is adjacent to a body of water has the right to make reasonable use of it.  These rights cannot be sold or transferred other than with the land.  But, then arguments arise as to what is "reasonable use".

Most western states follow the Colorado Doctrine, which generally allows for water rights to be unconnected with the real estate and sold and mortgaged like any other property.

There is water project law, that deals with the construction and management of water projects.

There are a number of sites you can look at to get an idea.  For example, there is Texas Water Law, Water Law, Water Colorado, American Water Resources Association, Circle of Blue Waternews, North Carolina Water Rights Coalition, Utah Water Law And Water Rights, and Ground Water Science, to name a few.

There are articles on the shenanigans of investors like T. Boone Pickens buying up hundreds or millions of dollars in water rights for purposes many are not going to appreciate.

It might be a worthwhile legal area for you to explore.